Electric Police Cars Running Out Of Juice, Lack Of Charging Points

Electric police cars in rural areas are leaving officers struggling to reach crime scenes when they ‘run out of puff’, according to one police chief.

Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson says that his police officers have difficulties reaching far-flung emergencies in electric vehicles. [bold, links added]

The force boasts the largest fleet of electric cars by percentage size, but when they run out of power, officers struggle to locate charging points out in the sticks.

As a result, officers are having to change vehicles without even reaching emergency sites, he claims.

Responding to questions from County Councillor Steve Robinson, from Nailsworth, the commissioner accepted the future of the force was with electric vehicles.

Asked if he backed the move to electric vehicles, he explained: ‘We’ve all got to go towards electric vehicles moving forwards.

‘We have the largest fleet by percentage size, which has brought its problems.

‘The design options available for electric vehicles for operational uses are not perhaps as advanced as I would like them to be.

‘So, let’s put it like this, I’m cautious about going any further down that road at this stage.

‘I’d like to see more operational choice so that, for instance, if an officer is out in a rural area on a road traffic accident and his lights are on, his radio is on, his heater is on, I wouldn’t want him to run out of power for all of those different facilities, simply because he or she is in an electric car.

‘I’ve heard lots of problems with officers driving around in electric vehicles having problems trying to find recharging facilities.

‘Running out of puff and then having to get another vehicle.

‘So, although the world is going down that road and I fully understand and support climate controls and green areas, it’s definitely an important thing but my first priority is to fight crime.

‘And therefore, I have to take the operational effect into account.’

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To point the finger at a lack of charging points misses the point: are his officers expected to spend an hour charging up, even when they have found one, while an emergency is going on down the road?

Given the size of the police cars we are typically talking about, limited range will be an issue on most days. Batteries will need recharging after just two or three hours of driving, which I would guess would be a typical day for rural police.

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